Sermon Title: Christian Joy [Sermon]
Sermon Text: Philippians 4:4–13
Sermon Summary: Christian joy is an action of gratitude for God’s gifts and petition for more. Christians rejoice in every circumstance because Christ swallowed death on Calvary and will wipe away every tear at His return.
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson
Liturgical Date: Pentecost 20 Proper 23 A
Calendar Date: 2026-10-11
Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County

Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church serves Luxemburg and other areas in Northeast Wisconsin.

The following transcript has been cleaned and lightly edited with the assistance of AI:

TRANSCRIPT

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today we heard from the Apostle Paul in our epistle lesson. He said these words, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.” And on the basis of this, we’re going to be talking about the fact that Christian joy is a command that the Lord gives to us to obey.

Joy is something that seems in short order these days. Instead, it seems that anger, resentment, bitterness, being down in the dumps, all of these have become rather fashionable. I remember about 10 years ago, I found myself at a children’s birthday party and I was trying to enjoy all of the things in a children’s birthday party, eating the cake, watching the kids play with the balloons, watch them play pin the tail on the donkey, and all those fun little kids birthday party games.

And I was sitting out in their yard underneath some big, beautiful trees, enjoying a beautiful day. They had a house right along the bay of Green Bay there. And enjoying the birthday cake, sitting out on a lawn chair. And the grandparents of the child struck up a conversation with me. And they said, “Oh, what do you do?”

I said I’m a Lutheran pastor. Oh, they were excited to hear about that. And, “Oh, you’re a Lutheran pastor, that’s wonderful.” They said what synod are you a Lutheran pastor in? I said I’m a pastor in a Lutheran church, Missouri Synod, the LCMS. That was apparently the wrong answer, ’cause boy did I get an earful about 10 minutes about how this is bad, this is wrong, even immoral.

I won’t tell you what direction they were giving me these criticisms from other than it was from the South. They were from Illinois, of course. No offense to those of you who happen to be from Illinois here today. But in any case boy they were on my case about this fact. And isn’t that something?

Children’s birthday party where even that kid’s own grandparents couldn’t help themselves from contaminating the joy of that occasion with bitterness, discord, disagreement, and so on. I just smiled and took it all and tried to enjoy the rest of my cake, but it certainly was hard. As I said, anger, resentment, bitterness.

People wanna introduce it into the incredible feast the Lord has granted us in this life, and not only in this life, but also in the life to come. Every single moment, every single day of our lives, every single breath is a lavish gift from God to be received with thanksgiving and a cause to lift up prayers to God.

God, continue to grant me your blessings. That’s what it means to rejoice, by the way. And instead of thanking the Lord for His blessings, instead of confessing our faith in Him, both to others and to Him in prayer, instead, so often people are filled with anger, resentment, and bitterness, and all of these negative things. But we as Christians especially are called to a better way.

We’re all called to a better way, but of all people, Christians have more than enough cause to rejoice in every circumstance. We’re gonna be taking this theme out today under four headings. First of all, what does it mean to rejoice? Second of all, the various things that cause us to not rejoice. We’re going to talk about the fact that we all have an obligation to rejoice. And then finally, we’re going to talk about the promise that the Lord has to us with regards to joy. So let’s take up that first heading first.

What Is Christian Joy?

To be quite honest with you, in the first through thirds of my ministry, three-quarters of my ministry, I had a really hard time preaching on Christian joy ’cause I didn’t understand what it meant. I typically thought of Christian joy as a static thing, as a state of being, something maybe like an emotional state. That’s not the way that it’s described in the New Testament in most circumstances. Instead, in the New Testament, it’s talked about as an action, something that we do. What did St. Paul say? Did he say have at every and every circumstance warm, fuzzy feelings? He didn’t say that. Did he say in every circumstance, you have to be in this certain state? He didn’t say that. He didn’t say be joyful, okay? He said instead, “Rejoice.” Do the act of giving joy, making joy is an action in the Christian understanding.

And what is this action of Christian joy? First of all, Christian joy is confession of the blessings that the Lord has given us, expressing the blessings that the Lord has laid out for us. I’d like to call your attention, if you brought a Bible along, or if you have a Bible app with you you can open up your Bible to the first chapter of Philippians. And there in verses 18 and 19, he said this: “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.” Okay, what I want you to see there is that Paul draws a very tight connection to rejoicing and proclaiming the wonderful works that God has done for us through Christ Jesus.

Okay? And then as well, in our reading for today we get this connection with joy and thanksgiving for all God’s benefits once again. After he says and encourages them to rejoice, what does he say? He says, “In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” All right, so on the basis of this, I want you to see the first component of rejoicing, and it’s gratitude for the blessings that the Lord has given. Gratitude that is expressed, whether to others in confession of the faith that we have, or confession of that to God himself in prayer, “Lord, thank you for all of your blessings.” That’s the first part of Christian joy. And the second part of Christian joy goes right along with it. What did St. Paul say?

He said, “Not only acknowledging his benefits, but also let your requests be made known to God.” Okay. Christian joy in our other readings for today is linked to a feast, right? Now here in the United States of America, probably the feast that we most think about, for example, is Thanksgiving Day. And I think back to Thanksgiving, especially the Thanksgivings at my grandmother’s house. And remembering back to that what does the rejoicing in that look like? Enjoying the blessings that my grandmother and my mother and my aunt prepared and laid out, enjoying that, saying thank you for this blessing. And then, and this is critical because it’s an intrinsic part of Thanksgiving, asking for more, right? And nothing would give my grandmother greater joy than asking for more.

In fact, if you didn’t ask for more, she would offer you more. And if you said no, oh, that look on her face. Worst look I’ve ever seen on anybody’s face. The disappointment, right? Christian joy, and really the joy that all people are called to give to God. Lord, thank you for your blessings. Thank you for my house and home. Thank you for every breath that I breathe. Thank you for the food that you give me. Thank you for my family and friends. Thank you for my clothing. Lord, give me more. And the Lord invites you to do that, by the way.

And as Christians, we have all the more cause to rejoice. Lord, not only have you given me my clothing, shoes, house, home, all of those blessings, you’ve not only given me these worldly blessings, but you’ve also given me spiritual blessings. Lord, you accomplished for me the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ Jesus. Lord, give me more. Forgive my sins this day. Lord, you have granted me faith by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who by means of the Word of God transforms my heart to trust in you. Lord, give me more. Make me more attentive to your holy scriptures. And through this, may the Holy Spirit lead me into greater faith and greater understanding and greater love for you and greater love for others.

Lord you’ve granted me greater love for the neighbor because through the outpouring of your love into my heart, I can see that overflowing to others, but I do that imperfectly now. Lord, help me to do that. My brothers and sisters in Christ, that’s what rejoicing looks like. And that’s why we are called to rejoice in every circumstance, whether in low times or in high times, whether in what the world would consider good times or bad times, or as St. Paul talks about it, in times of hunger and plenty, abundance and need. In all times, we are called to rejoice. Yes, there can be circumstances in this world in which our life does not look the way that we might want it to look like. There may be troubles at home. There may be troubles at work. Someone that we love may have passed away. Maybe someone has harmed us or someone that we love, yet in every circumstance we can continue to acknowledge God’s goodness and still look to the Lord for His blessings. That’s precisely what St. Paul does here in Philippians, by the way.

Did you catch what he said in verse 10 and following? “I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I’m speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” And he goes on to talk about, whether in times of need or in times of plenty, and so on. You know what St. Paul’s talking about there? He’s saying to the Philippians, “I rejoice when you expressed your care and concern for me.” And do you realize why they were doing that? He was in prison. He was in chains. He was in the darkness of a Roman dungeon on account of his proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he’s saying to the Philippians, “I’m here in chains, arrested, imprisoned, and I rejoiced.” Why? “Because this gave you occasion to express love to me.” Paul meant it when he said to rejoice in every circumstance. And in like manner, we can do as well. No matter our circumstances, we can continue to acknowledge the Lord’s benefits, and yet ask Him for more.

Obstacles to Christian Joy

However, there are some obstacles to Christian joy. First of all is the obstacle of our own sin. How much misery, how much darkness, how much chaos, how much destruction do we introduce into our lives and into the lives of others through our own sin? We ourselves are the cause of so much sorrow, so much frustration, so much darkness. It’s for this reason that St. Paul encourages the Philippians to consider those things which are above rather than those things which pertain to the darkness of this world. As he says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

In other words, don’t be consumed by the darkness of this world. Don’t seek to imitate it. But rather instead, set your mind on things above and your heart on things above so that the glory of God can shine in you as you turn your face to Him. It’s a good reminder for us as well. Sometimes, however, there is cause for sorrow in this world, not on account of anything that we have done, but rather instead on account of things that have happened to us or around us or to those we love, not on account of any evil in us, but rather on account of the fact that we live in an evil and fallen world. And we acknowledge those things.

And in fact, even in those times, it is okay to mourn and to sorrow. And yet we do not mourn as those who have no hope, because we understand that the Lord has many blessings yet to give us, even as He has granted us many blessings. And this is why we as Christians of all people have cause to rejoice. Because we know how the story ends, and we have great hope for blessings, lavish blessings laid up for us through Christ Jesus.

The Promise of the Lord

This is the promise of the Lord. They will bring to its fullness Christian joy. Today we heard about this in Isaiah chapter 25. “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” Now when Isaiah was saying this, he was looking forward and really perceiving two events. This gets a little complicated but we can put this simply. He saw and he looked forward to two events, and it’s fascinating what he says here.

To us, the people of God, God promises this: a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. The Lord is going to give us an incredible blessing of Saturday night prime rib and Von Stiehl wine, and that is what we get. But what does He do in turn for Himself? Because He eats as well. He gives to us this lavish feast, but he swallows the bitter pill of misery. He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil, the sorrow that is spread over all nations. And that’s not all that he will swallow up. He will also swallow up death.

Isaiah was looking forward to Mount Calvary, where Christ Jesus would swallow the bitter pill of this world’s darkness and evil and sin. There, Christ Jesus swallowed the bitter pill of our sins. There, Christ Jesus swallowed the bitter pill of death. There, Christ Jesus swallowed the bitter pill of sorrow and instead gave us the lavish feast of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And on account of this, we look forward to the great Messianic feast when Christ returns in power and might and glory. Our old sinful nature will melt away and be replaced by nothing but love for the Father and nothing but love for the neighbor. No longer will we have sin to cause any kind of darkness or despair, and there will be nothing evil in the world to afflict us either, for God will trample under His feet all of His enemies, all of our enemies. And that is what we look forward to as Christians on the great return of Christ Jesus. And therefore, we thank the Lord for these benefits, and we ask for their fulfillment in Christ’s return. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.